Perry Farrell: Jane’s Addiction to ‘Test Pilot’ New Las Vegas Project

What exactly is Perry Farrell up to these days? While fronting Jane's Addiction, he gave the music industry a boost with the introduction of the Lollapalooza festival many years ago, and it looks like the spirit of innovation is very much still alive with Farrell today. During a chat with the Wall Street Journal, Farrell teased a new music-centric project he's starting in Las Vegas and revealed that Jane's Addiction will be a "test-pilot" group to see how it all can work.

Farrell transitioned to talking about the project when he was asked about the competition in the festival world for Lollapalooza. The vocalist began, "I’m really happy there are festivals. If there weren’t festivals, I don’t know what music would sound like. Festivals have been the bread and butter for musicians for the last 10 years. We’ve been going at it for 25. The more festivals, the better. It’s just another place for the audience to gather and the musicians to perform for them."

But, he added, "Like most things, when it’s knocked off and copied, after a while the artistry and the imagination starts to dry up. That, I’m not too happy about. That’s why I’m starting this new project. This new project is music-centric. It’s in Las Vegas. But I’m changing the model entirely. I’m changing the scale entirely — it’s going to be for an audience around 1,200 per show. It’s going to be unlike anything you’ve ever experienced."

Later in the interview, Farrell delved more into the project when asked about the possibility of new Jane's Addiction music. "This new [Las Vegas] project is going to have Jane’s music. I’m going to be recording live music throughout the year; it’s a constant recording process. Jane’s is going to be the test-pilot group," stated Farrell. "We’re going to have multiple residencies at this complex and Jane’s is going to be the first group hired. We already started working on some new tracks. But these things aren’t going to super takeoff. We have to finish off this 25-year celebration."

The celebration Farrell is discussing is the band's touring in support of the 25th anniversary of their Ritual de lo Habitual album. Dates for that run can be viewed here.

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